caregiver infant interactions

Question 1

What is attachment in the context of caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 1

Attachment is an emotional relationship between two people, where they seek closeness and feel more secure in each other’s presence. It involves proximity seeking behaviors, secure base behavior, and separation anxiety.

Question 2

What was the aim of Meltzoff and Moore’s study?

Answer 2

The aim was to investigate the age at which imitation occurs in newborn babies.

Question 3

Describe the procedure used by Meltzoff and Moore in their study.

Answer 3

Babies aged 12-21 days were filmed watching an adult model produce one of three hand gestures or facial expressions, such as lip and tongue protrusion or mouth opening. The babies’ responses were filmed and analyzed by observers.

Question 4

What were the findings of Meltzoff and Moore’s study?

Answer 4

Infants as young as 2 weeks attempted to imitate the adult model, indicating an innate process.

Question 5

What is reciprocity in caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 5

Reciprocity is the mutual exchange of responses between the infant and caregiver, where the infant’s behavior elicits a response from the caregiver, influencing the infant’s behavior.

Question 6

Give an example of reciprocity in caregiver-infant interactions.

Answer 6

When an infant smiles, the caregiver also smiles, reinforcing the infant’s behavior and encouraging further interaction.

Question 7

What is interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 7

Interactional synchrony refers to the temporal coordination of behaviors between the infant and caregiver, where their responses are highly coordinated and synchronized.

Question 8

Give an example of interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions.

Answer 8

When an infant makes a facial expression, the caregiver responds with a similar facial expression in a synchronized manner.

Question 9

What is the key difference between reciprocity and interactional synchrony?

Answer 9

Reciprocity emphasizes mutual exchanges of responses, while interactional synchrony focuses on the timing and coordination of those responses.

Question 10

What is the ‘still face’ experiment by Tronick?

Answer 10

The still face experiment involves a mother interacting with her baby normally, then suddenly stopping and becoming still with a neutral face.

Question 11

What were the findings of the still face experiment by Tronick?

Answer 11

Babies initially try to engage the mother but become distressed when they see the lack of response, highlighting the importance of reciprocity in forming attachments.

Question 12

What did Isabella and Belsky’s study investigate?

Answer 12

They studied 153 mothers with their first-born child, observing them from 3 months to 9 months to see how interactional synchrony affects attachment.

Question 13

What were the findings of Isabella and Belsky’s study?

Answer 13

Infants with secure attachments by 9 months showed well-timed, mutually rewarding interactions, while those with insecure attachments had less synchronized interactions.

Question 14

What is a strength of highly controlled research in studying caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 14

Highly controlled research allows for the capture of fine details, ensuring an enhanced understanding of interactions, such as filming from multiple angles to observe micro-expressions.

Question 15

Why is there no demand characteristics in caregiver-infant interaction studies?

Answer 15

Infants are unaware they are being observed, meaning their behavior is completely natural, enhancing the internal validity of the research.

Question 16

What is the issue of intentionality in studying caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 16

It’s difficult to determine the infant’s intentions since their communication is limited to facial expressions and gestures, making it challenging to draw firm conclusions.

Question 17

What is observer bias in research?

Answer 17

Observer bias occurs when an observer interprets an infant’s behavior in a way that supports the researcher’s hypothesis, potentially affecting the validity of the findings.

Question 18

How did Meltzoff and Moore address observer bias in their study?

Answer 18

They used an independent observer to judge the infant’s behavior, ensuring high correlation scores and increasing validity.

Question 19

What is a practical issue in researching caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 19

Infant behavior is unpredictable, and researchers must wait for the right time to observe, which can limit the number of observations and sample size.

Question 20

Why is research into caregiver-infant interactions considered socially sensitive?

Answer 20

It emphasizes the importance of interactional synchrony, suggesting that lack of it could harm a child’s development, which could put pressure on working mothers who have less time for such interactions.

Question 21

How does research into caregiver-infant interactions have strong practical application

Answer 21

Drew attention to the important behaviours needed to help the development of the infant, such research encourages mothers to engage in social interaction and respond to the behaviours of the child in an appropriate and timely manner, important for areas such as empathy and language development